With bowhunting season four weeks away, hunters are starting to ask more questions about Wisconsin's new deer-hunting regulations spawned by the 2012 "Deer Trustee Initiative."

For instance, bonus-antlerless deer tags go on sale starting Monday for those who hunt the state's new Northern and Central forest zones. The sale expands Tuesday when Central-farmland tags hit the market, and Wednesday the Southern-farmland tags go on sale.

Perhaps the biggest challenge with the new deer program is its new terminology. None of it is complex, but it's different and requires change.

Just relax and keep asking questions. Be assured, you won't be the first person to inquire. If you don't believe it, check out the Department of Natural Resources' "Frequently Asked Questions" site.

So far, Wisconsin's "new and improved" deer regulations have generated 81 FAQs for the DNR, and the list is sure to grow in coming weeks. For instance, here's a basic question you must ask before starting: Do I even need a bonus antlerless tag where I hunt? Which prompts Question 83 (or so): Where can I find out if bonus tags are available where I hunt?

For these and other "Where Do I Start?" questions, click here. This page resembles an owner's manual, so you'll have a better idea how to proceed. Here's how I answered those basic questions:

Step 1: Where will you hunt this fall? First, forget the term "Deer Management Unit." That numbering system is gone. The county where you hunt is now your DMU. Simple, right? However, you must learn something new: In which of these four large deer zones do you hunt: Northern Forest, Central Forest, Central Farmland and Southern Farmland?

Once you answer those questions, you can learn whether you need to buy an antlerless deer tag — which costs $12 for residents and $20 for nonresidents. If you hunt in either farmland zone, you might have enough antlerless tags already. Each firearms and archery (regular or crossbow) license includes one buck tag and one antlerless tag.

So, if you buy one archery license and one gun license, you'll have two buck tags that are valid statewide, and two antlerless tags valid for the farmland zones. The buck tags can be used only in their specific gun or archery season, but the antlerless tags are good for both. If you think you'll use your free antlerless tag(s) this fall and want more, you can start buying more Tuesday or Wednesday.

Realize, though, that bonus tags will be specific to public or private land. If you plan to hunt both public and private property in a farmland zone, you'll need a tag for each.

If you hunt the Northern Forest zone, you won't need and can't get antlerless tags. The entire zone is buck-only, except for junior or disabled hunters, or active military members on leave or furlough.

Here are some more changes: Crossbows are now legal during archery season for everyone, all October gun-hunts are eliminated, the late-December nine-day gun-hunt in the Southern Farmlands is now antlerless-only, and the four-day December antlerless gun-hunt is restricted to the Central Farmlands and Central Forest zones.

Yep. Chronic wasting disease is growing in southern Wisconsin, but these regulations killed the zone's four-day December antlerless hunt.

These are just a few of the new regulations. More will follow next year, including electronic registration. But like them or hate them, these changes aren't complicated. We'll adapt and everything will eventually make sense.

Yes, we won't understand everything overnight. That won't even happen before Halloween. Why? Because less than half of Wisconsin's deer hunters are thinking about deer right now.

A year ago, 60 percent of the state's 635,000 firearms deer hunters didn't buy their license until November. In fact, 50 percent didn't buy the license until sometime during the eight days before 2013's Nov. 23 opener. Of those, 17 percent waited until the day before to buy. That's up from 13 percent in 2006.

With all that said, if you don't like what you're reading or hearing about the new system, realize this: You have only yourself to blame. Louder, more organized hunters convinced lawmakers to scuttle the DNR's previous deer program. They got their way because not enough hunters showed up at public hearings in recent years to tell the malcontents to sit down and be quiet.

We tend to get what we deserve in democracies, good or bad. Those who care enough to engage get their say and often their way. Those who sit in mute apathy or ignorance can only adapt to what others decide for them.

-- Patrick Durkin is a freelance writer who covers outdoors for Press-Gazette Media. Email him at patrickdurkin@charter.net.